How Durmstrang Got a New Basilisk
by Alex the Kritkanzer
Summary: A basilisk egg is about to hatch in Hogwarts and Severus Snape wants to shove it on someone else. Little he knows that there are places eager to get it!


Title: **How Durmstrang Got a New Basilisk**  
>Category: Books » Harry Potter<br>Author: Alex the Kritkanzer  
>Language: English, Rating: Rated: K<br>Genre: Humor/Mystery  
>Published: 06-04-11, Updated: 06-04-11<br>Chapters: 1, Words: 2,203

**Chapter 1: Chapter 1**

_As it is already known, this is a fanfiction over a fanfiction. I would like to thank both JKR and Notwolf for the fun I had by playing with their respective toys. Spelling mistakes are mine and result of having fun. As once upon a time a gentleman said, "Nobody had written what I wanted to read, so I had to write it myself." I will be glad if you enjoy it as well._

They have tried all the charms they could find and nothing worked. In fact, the bouncing charms had already sent few of the teachers to Poppy and had considerably heightened the egg's temperature. Hagrid had started to shift uneasily and for Severus it was a sure sign that the things were getting closer and closer to the hatching stage. He decided to risk it no more. He shooed everyone out of the dungeon and called Winky to bring some real ice.

Idiotic girl! She had thought of hatching a real basilisk! Not only had thought of it, she had started it. Once the process started, the egg could not be put back to dormant stage in which it could happily survive centuries. Tom was also an idiot, but not to that level, he had hidden it from the basilisk, never expecting small, bushy haired girls roaming his Chamber of Secrets. Plus, he had had his own pet. Who may need two of this kind? Severus definitely had no friends with such exotic taste in pets. Even Lucius was relatively reasonable with his Xerxes compared to a little girl with an Eggy-the-Basilisk. What was she thinking? That she could keep it in her nightstand? Bring it to the common room to cuddle with it? Feed it leftovers brought secretly from the Grand Hall?

The Chamber of Secrets was secret no more, so Severus could not stuff the beast there. If a tiny girl could open it, now it will be a challenge for any hot head to repeat the feat and then Myrtle will have tons of companions! Killing the creature was next to impossible – with the great help of Salazar the egg has been protected to a crazy extend! It was like a dark magic amulet itself!

The thought of dark magic amulet brought Severus to the thought of Tanassov and Durmstrang. The Bulgarian Headmaster was known for his exotic tastes in living creatures, Luna Lovegood being a prime example. Count there the flame-throwing eagles as messengers, the winged horses as a transport, well, may be he could know what to do with the suspiciously glowing egg. Severus grabbed a pinch of floo powder and called Tanassov office.

"Yes, Headmaster, what can I do for you? Is there something new under the cloudy skies of Albion?" came deceptively smooth.

"Not yet, but soon, Dr. Tanassov, very soon. I have on my table a basilisk's egg ready to hatch!"

"Congratulations, these are not so common." The giggle could not have been Tanassov's and Severus presumed that Miss Lovegood was somewhere very close to the Durmstrang director's floo.

"I don't mind parting with it, if this is what you imply but the thing seems to be protected from every curse we have available."

"Really? What do you want for it?"

Severus gasped. Tanassov was actually interested in getting the monster. He frowned and cursed mentally for not considering this possibility. The Durmstrang director laughed.

"You are a great Occlumence, Professor Snape, but I have been into the trade for somewhat longer. You want to get rid of it, and I will do it for you, but to show you that we here are not ungrateful brats, I will bring you a gift to seal forever your blasted Chamber. Do we have a deal?"

"You are twisting my hands, I should say!" but the relief could be heard in his voice over the floo.

"I am taking the hot potato from them actually. Let us establish how hot it is. How often does a green lightning pass over the shell? Approximately. Let say, every morning?"

"Not approximately, it flashes every fifteen minutes for the last hour."

"You must be joking! Where is it?"

"In a tub of ice on my desk! Why?"

"Because the little one will remember clinking of the ice as his mother! Merlin, don't you have a Magical Creatures teacher? The last nine hours are crucial for the establishment of a bond with its parental authority, that is why. So at least an hour is lost."

"I am not quite sure it is only an hour, I started timing it since an hour."

There was a phrase that in any language would have been distinguished as a curse.

"Get down the wards of the floo, Professor," said the carefully restrained voice of Dr. Tanassov.

"Done!"

The mantel lit with ferocious green bang and the black-clad Durmstrang director strode in. He acknowledged his peer with a curt nod and immediately lifted the wet linen cloth covering the tub. The egg seemed brighter than an hour before. The lightning lines were clearer now. Tanassov produced a fluffy towel and rolled his sleeves. He pulled the egg from the almost completely melted ice and wrapped it quickly in the towel.

"Would you like to come with me to see the hatching?"

"Not that I planned to. When it is going to be?"

"In around two and a half hours. If you decide to come through the floo, call first. It will be warded but Luna knows how to open the wards. No, she won't be there. Use the kitchen floo. "

Tanassov jumped into the heart in obvious hurry. Severus realized that he was finally able to breathe properly. He warded the floo very, very carefully.

_**Durmstrang, three minutes later.**_

"Luna, get in Mrs. Klyucharova and the Krum. All is well, little one, all is well. We will take care, no need to flush like that!"

The chatelaine and the vet were in the Director's office in few seconds. Victor Krum's father looked at the bundle and shook his head.

"Such a rare egg, and a beautiful one at that and they nearly botched it. A shame!"

"I am so happy, so happy!" gushed the chatelaine. "The old Baz was so worked out, so worn out, it could not do a proper petrifaction at all! There was no venom left in it, when we showed him the mirror he could not wait for it!" Mrs. Klyucharova brushed a tear. Durmstrang resident basilisk had been put down late the previous year and the stocks of its venom and urine were getting down rapidly, despite the parsimonious use. They cost a fortune and most of what was on the market was counterfight despite the top galleons it was calling. All efforts to secure a new egg were futile. Former students were notified that there was a substantial founder's fee for a healthy egg that would hatch but the only one that was brought had proven to be sterile. The chatelaine peeked at the bundle Luna was holding and sniffed again. The lightning that went over it was getting bluish rather than green.

"Is Saint-George's room ready, Mrs. Klyucharova?"

"Of course, Dr. Tanassov, it had been redone since we had our hopes so high with that Chinese egg we got. The room is polished, clean, there is fresh water stored in the pool for the baby to wash away its first dust…"

"Dimitar, are you going to hatch it?"

"I thought Luna could do it. She is better than me with the creatures and she will have more time to spend with the little one the first few weeks."

"Congratulations! That means you are staying my dear!" The vet was ecstatic. Luna was wonderful with any magic creatures, had no problems with assisting him in the tasks that would make a grownup man retch and moreover, she could tame even the untamable Tanassov.

"What is it doing now?" Luna asked. "It sound to me like it is grating the shell."

"In fact it does. He is sharpening the teeth by eating the shell. It is kind of test. If the basilisk is not strong enough to break its own shell, it is doomed to die. The parent basilisk may help but may not as well, they are not exactly the model mom or dad. Let us get to Saint-George's as it will be quieter there. It needs to hear your heartbeat."

The small group moved to the vast chamber just under the serpentarium. It was hotter there, as the serpents liked it hot being cold blooded themselves. Mrs. Klyucharova was true to her word – the chamber was beautifully appointed with a heated sandpit, few flat stones piles here and there, forming caves of different dimensions to play hide-and-seek, a central pool with lotuses and a small waterfall on one side. The big nest was at an entrance of the intricate system of tubes for the basilisk to get exercise. Luna could easily walk into the semitransparent maize.

Once there Victor's father pulled out of his doctor's bag a table, with scales and some shiny instruments that he set aside. Mrs. Klyucharova enlarged four comfortable armchairs that she took out of her chatelaine's bag. The director carefully seated Luna in one of the chairs and sat next to her. Krum was listening intently to the grating sound coming from the egg and timing the lightning that had turned from bluish to violet. He did not touch it.

"What shall I do now?" Luna asked.

"Hug it as you are doing it now. So it will hear your heartbeat and your body rhythms so when it hatches, it will be sure you are his mother. It will remember you for life. It will allow you to ride it. It will never bite you, you can milk it for its poison and it will be glad to give it to you. It will protect your children as he will be sure they are his siblings. Luna it is a mighty magic if used properly. It is sad that the big one in Hogwarts was treated so poorly and it turned to such monster. You will need to learn parseltongue though."

"I thought that parseltongues are born."

"Nonsense. It is a language like all others. If you have a proper teacher you can hiss in no time flat."

"And there are such teachers around?"

"But of course. Now concentrate. It is turning pinkish so it may be not that far away from breaking the shell. Remember, it is a baby, even if it looks you in the eyes the most you may get is a headache. But try to avoid it anyway."

The egg had actually turned pale pink and was shaking. Only a tiny crack formed on one side, but no piece of shell fell. The little one inside seemed to panic and it started hitting the crack with all its might. But the shell was not giving away. The glow first grew a little bit to bright white then it looked like it started getting less luminous. Luna held the egg tight and before anyone could stop her shattered it in two halves over the side of the metal table. The top part of the shell fell off and in the bottom one a small fat pink snake lay curled. It looked up with its baby-blue eyes in which the expression was "What did just hit me?" and hissed hesitantly. Krum hissed adoringly back and took the shell from smiling Luna. He poured the fatty on his scale and laughed at the digits. He hissed again and turned to Luna.

"Mommy, she wants to get into the water. Congratulations, a beautiful young lady for the moment. She has been laid by a girl she said, hatched by a girl and mommy is a girl, so she has decided to be a girl for the moment."

Luna brought the wiggling pink snake to the lake and it dived like a pro.

"Well done Luna, she could not have gone out by hetself and she could have died inside very fast without air. Where did you learn to crack eggs so precisely?"

"Where, where, it is a common knowledge that Dr. Tanassov is partial on pancakes, so when he orders them for breakfast who sneaks in the kitchen to cook them?" interjected Mrs. Klyucharova.

"Does anything escapes unnoticed here in Durmstang?" heaved Tanassov.

"For the moment the date of your marriage is a mystery, but now that Luna is staying…"


End file.
